MasonicMinute.com
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Posted at: 11:15 pm It seems that Arizona is not the only place in the United States where the boundaries of right as between the Grand Lodge and her subordinates is being tested. I direct you to the burning taper here: http://burningtaper.blogspot.com/2007/11/halcyon-lodge-letter-to-former-halcyon.html for more information. But alas, the problem is not with the choices that men make…I see the problem with the way they make their choices. I don’t know a thing about what is happening in Ohio…and frankly it doesn’t interest me anyway. I write tonight on the uproar, not the subject thereof. In reading the entries on the blog cited above, I could not help read some of the nastiness and grumpiness that overflowed into my eyes from the screen. How un-Masonic to make accusations in all directions - no matter what the subject. I don’t have a dog in the fight, but I don’t see why there would be a fight! It is not Masonic to call names or make accusations, and it is totally unproductive for the parties in this debate to air their dirty laundry over the internet. Have we no compasses left?! Uproar is almost never productive. Discourse and listening are usually the way to make the twain-ends of an issue come together. It is the peace and harmony of a Lodge…our global Lodge…that is disturbed when brother Masons resort to immature attacks. That having been said, I am just as guilty of that kind of name-calling as anybody else! But that does not excuse me any-more than it should excuse our beligerent brothers in Ohio! Goodwill, patient listening and tolerance of ideas (no matter how diverse). These are three unnamed Masonic principles that we should look to in times of tumult. I only hope that our brothers in Ohio can calm-down long-enough to sit-down and work things out. Sheesh! |
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December 10, 2007
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[Please note AEdifico’s response to this comment below. We will not remove this posting from MasonicMinute.com, but only because it has great entertainment value]
Sadly, there is not now, nor in the forseeable future any hope of rectifying this situation. Halcyon Lodge has made their decision, and so too have many, many others. The newly-formed Grand Orient of the United States of America, www.grandorientusa.org, appears to be a coming together of these otherwise disparate and disgruntled brethren. After doing some research, I discovered that there are no less than fifteen or so verifiable lodges of this new body already! They have existed for only a few weeks, and they have an appeal which is working! Lodges in Michigan, California, Georgia, Alabama, and elsewhere have come to join with them. They have a viable lineage, stemming back through the Grand Orient of France to the 1717 Premier Grand Lodge of England also. As a mainstream Mason, I can see why these men, many of whom are among today’s leading Masonic scholars and also among its most vital and youthful members, are going over to them. I have been a Mason for 38 years, and have seen the kind of arrogant, petty, and manipulative ploys that have these guys upset.
Take, for example, PGM Haas of West Virginia, or the remaining refusal by some GLs to accept Prince Hall Masons. Look at the racist, and yes, it is racist, postures of those GLs who, despite their own choosing to recognize PH Masons, refuse to accept them if they come from these closed jurisdictions. Yet, we say it all has to do with recognition and respecting jurisdictional sovereignty? Bull, by that reality every OES Mason in the United States must and should resign or be expelled, as the OES isn’t recognized by UGLE either! For that matter, it is considered an irregular and clandestine body! Also, it ought to be said that the AASR’s original charter in Charleston S.C. has been PROVEN a fake, and the entire Scottish Rite in the USA is utter contrivance! Yet it remains the most popular appendent body of Masonry in America!
So, why wouldn’t a bunch of young guys want to work in the traditional style and rituals, complete with their cool symbolism and esoteric underpinnings? Why wouldn’t they look at us as being racist, hypocritical, and perhaps worst of all, ignorant? The Grand Orient guys, from the few I have managed to identify, are scholars! They have published in the Scottish Rite Research Society, Philalethes, and other research bodies, even in Quator Coronati! They have a right to question the supposed authority of a system which can, as has been done in Georgia, Alabama, and now West Virginia, expel members by edict without so much as a Masonic trial?! Most of all, they might have something over on us old-timers, as they grow, pulling in the bright, young, zealous candidates of the profane world, offering them Masonry in the form it was done before the Antients and Hanoverians (and Scottish Rite NMJ & SMJ for that matter!) began rewriting the rituals and preventing the older ones from even being discussed, we sit here, watching our scholars and our future leaders break ranks to join them. In time, if we do not amend ourselves to actually be what we claim to be, the Grand Orient of the USA will be a bastion of scholars, leaders, and will be the future of American Masonry. We will be withered old men and memories, in empty temples and cathedrals, pathetically clinging to a glorious past we have never actually known for ourselves!
Comment by Churlak — December 11, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
Has anyone ever considered the possibility that maybe the Grand Orient of the USA guys might be, just maybe, right? At least on some of their points? Perhaps if we get off of our illustrious butts and spend a little time working with our senses of hearing, we might learn something from these fellows!
Comment by Churlak — December 11, 2007 @ 1:32 pm
Sure let’s just sit here and watch all of our talent run away. Oh but wait if we do that then eventually only a hand full will have access to the Billions and I mean hundreds of Billions of dollars in our war chest. I’m sure the Scottish Rite and Brent Morris would not mind that at all.
Comment by Old Bastard — December 11, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
The Grand Orient does not require that you believe in God. They are not Masons, but some clandestine boys-club attempting to be ‘cool’ by using a square and compass.
The comments of Churlak above are clearly a recruiting tool posted on this site to attract attention to their little club. Fine with me.
I will leave the post on my site because some interesting issues are raised, but let’s call a spade a spade.
Churlak, your methods are cheap. Stop trying to use my site to promote your bullshit. I applaud the effort, and I’m calling-you-out as the fake that you are.
By the way…your website is void of names…this is clear evidence of cowardice. My name can be found on my Lodge’s website and in our Grand Lodge publications. I am only anonymous (barely) on this site because my responsibilities to my Lodge and my State require some discretion.
In other words, I can’t call you a complete fake turd-face while using my real name because that would bring-down my Lodge and my Craft.
On the other hand, I know a guy named Adrian Fontes, and he thinks you are a complete fake turd-face also.
Thanks for the comment. Visit often.
Comment by AEdifico — December 11, 2007 @ 2:45 pm
Nice try Churlak…
GOOFUS
Oh yeah, I know a another guy named John Nichols that thinks, umm wait.. KNOWS you’re a cheap, lying douchebag.
Comment by emeraldi42 — December 11, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
Turd-face? How old are you?
Comment by Old Bastard — December 11, 2007 @ 3:03 pm
I am old enough to know better, and not so old that I worry about the opinions of others.
Besides, I was calling that guy by a juvenile name because most clandestine Masonic organizations arise out of certain ‘others’ discontent with legitimate Masonry. They tend to be too immature to deal with the Craft and its rules, so they break-away or do their own thing in the first place.
In this case, ‘turd-face’ seemed appropriate. I apologize for having to explain this.
By the way…to answer your question…I am 37 going-on 14.
(humor, dear brother…it still has value.)
Comment by AEdifico — December 11, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
“My mother said to me, “If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.” Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.”
Pablo Picasso.
Comment by Guiseppe B. — February 15, 2008 @ 5:46 pm